What Are You Watching (TV Series, etc.)? :facebook:

[quote=“Toe Save”]You heard it here first. Best new show to hit the box in years.
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Actually, while baskets is no doubt great - If we’re talking about new shows in recent years, these would rank ahead:

One thing about Sopranos–no show ever had better dream sequences.

Late to “THE JINX” party but if they show it again on HBO Asia you should check it out. I’m not usually into true crime and never really followed the Robert Durst history, but this 6 part HBO series is very well done and who can resist when you have interviews with the man himself.

House of Cards S4 sees some big improvements from S3.

Just started Better Call Saul S2. Wasn’t really feeling the first episode but will keep watching

I’m up to date. It’s picking up a bit. Looking forward to the next one for sure.

Just when you thought TV had hit a new low, behold the 7 Deadly Sins. I caught Gluttony last night…after dinner. Almost gave it all back…

[quote]7 Deadly Sins aims to cause discomfort. The exploration of the seven deadly sins is sure to take a dark turn, and Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, 30 Days) is determined to find the darkest way to approach each one. A new Showtime miniseries that premieres Thursday, 7 Deadly Sins dedicates each of its episodes to a different sin, presented through a series of vignettes. It’s not a groundbreaking show, but it’s an interesting and skewed look at the grotesque…

Spurlock smartly lets the stories speak for themselves. It’s these strange vignettes that are the centerpiece of the show, which finds unique ways to connect to them to each deadly sin.

In the pilot episode, “Gluttony,” 7 Deadly Sins begins by introducing us to Dr. John Basso, the owner of Las Vegas’ Heart Attack Grill, a despicable and disturbing restaurant that prides itself on its unhealthy menu (one burger has 9,983 calories; two people have had heart attacks in the restaurant). He is unabashed about how fucked-up his business is, practically bragging about the heart attacks — “business is good,” he proudly proclaims — and reveling in being hated. We’re also supposed to hate him (we do), and we’re supposed to be fascinated with him (we are). Later, we also meet Nikki, a 700-plus-pound woman who wants to be the world’s fattest entertainer, and people who design large coffins for the “morbidly obese.” The point — particularly in Basso’s case — is to make the viewer uncomfortable with what’s being presented. The show often succeeds in that regard.
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And there’s more:

[quote]Cheeky in the extreme — and “extreme” is the operative word — Morgan Spurlock’s “7 Deadly Sins” takes Showtime into TLC territory, albeit operating with a bit more style and latitude. Serving as host from what looks like the old “Night Gallery” set, Spurlock guides viewers through out-there examples of each vice, from gluttony to lust, envy to wrath. With a trio of vignettes in each half-hour, the show is fast-paced, fun and voyeuristic: the pay-cable equivalent of empty calories, while mirroring what’s become a pretty saturated basic-cable subgenre.

Sporting a funereal black suit, Spurlock introduces each story, and frequently cites historical examples of the various sins. The taped pieces then focus on individual cases that demonstrate different forms of unorthodox or fetishistic behavior: A 700-pound woman whose work revolves around her weight, and the man who desires her; men who like dressing up in rubberized suits that approximate a woman’s body, and the company that sells them; an honest-to-God fight club; and a man who markets dildos modeled after, among other things, horses and dogs. (It is, we’re told, a lot safer for all concerned than actual bestiality.)

Spurlock and his collaborators (he created the show with Jeremy Chilnick) have a good eye for the absurd, and for presenting what amount to carnival-sideshow acts without engaging in excessive smirking. In that regard, this is a more intellectually provocative exercise than something like “Gigolos” and the other unscripted Showtime fare that occupy similar latenight environs.
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Train wreck would be an appropiate description, except it is made like a NG/Doscovery documentary feel stuff… but if you think that those channels that used to present history and geography lessons are now engaged in similar fare, well… I think I will stick to my Wild Japan series: wild animals living in the urban jungle of Jpanese cities, sika deer foraging in wheat fields in Hokkaido, stuff like that. Where are my kitten documentaries?! When is Jackson Galaxy’s next season!?

I’m up to date. It’s picking up a bit. Looking forward to the next one for sure.[/quote]
:popcorn: :popcorn: Do you feel knowing the fate of both Saul and Mike affected your viewing experience of this show?

Not that I had time to read the entire post, but this was like, already more than I need or wanted to know. No thank you. Gross. I like my food and being (relatively) guilt free when stuffing my face with tasty sustenance. I suggest you do the same. If you must, swap it out for another food show, like master chef junior or something :wink: .

Oh, I was not looking for a food show. I thought it was one of those documentary thinghies. And they do not only do food. There is lust, envy, etc. a whole smorgasbord of the human … condition.

I have been watching some documentaries on HBO. Last one was on Bipolar Children. Very tough situation. Another recent one, on the food issue, was called Thin, and folowed the confinement of women in a facility specilizing in treating eating disorders. I was like, they look so normal… then I realized my perception is so warped from living in Taiwan I think anorexic thin is normal. We are talking people fed through tubes thin.

Lately I tend more towards either watching the news -local or TV5/DW- or NatGeo/Discovery documentaries. Half an hour is all I can devote to TV lately. Non fiction seems funnier/more interesting/surprising than fiction these days -as anyone who follows the politics would tell. :stuck_out_tongue:

On the fiction stuff, I do follow my beloved Supernatural -
12th season approved, still longest running sci-fi/fantasy TV series so far-
and lately I found a channel with Spanish subtitles. I am up to date on Season 11. :banana:

I’m up to date. It’s picking up a bit. Looking forward to the next one for sure.[/quote]
:popcorn: :popcorn: Do you feel knowing the fate of both Saul and Mike affected your viewing experience of this show?

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No, it didn’t even occur to me! Though in the last episode (I think) they did a suspense approach to Mike’s new mystery client, I guess they were trying to make you think it would be Gus, at least I thought so, but it was the Mexican gangster who features so far.

[quote=“Tempo Gain”]
I’m up to date. It’s picking up a bit. Looking forward to the next one for sure.[/quote]

Rhea Seehorn is pretty awesome by the way.

[quote=“Tempo Gain”][quote=“Tempo Gain”]
I’m up to date. It’s picking up a bit. Looking forward to the next one for sure.[/quote]

Rhea Seehorn is pretty awesome by the way.[/quote]
We’ve sure been seeing a lot of her this season, havent we? Word is we will see even more of her (makes sense given how crucial Kim is to Jimmy/Saul). And by the way, what an amazing (yet slow burn) episode this week - for Kim of course, but also for Mike (McGyverin’), for Chuck (showmanship pitch), for Howard (manipulative dark side), and for Slippin’ Jimmy (who, despite better judgment, strikes again).

Also really dig that opening sequence oner on the Mexican border… What a great homage to Touch of Evil.

This one ranks up there with even the best of the Breaking Bad episodes. My only regret is we will only get two more of these and it’s right to another year-long wait.

Finally managed to complete my set of Horace and Pete episodes (1&2 were proving difficult to get) and am now an episode and a half into it. It hearkens back to Louis’ first series “Lucky Louis” in that it has a theatrical ambiance to the taping, only now he has some huge stars to bring his unique and bleak world view to life. Alan Alda, whom Time Magazine once captioned “Is there a dog mean enough to bite this man?” is completely destroying the memory of Hawkeye Pierce with this bitter, brutal racist turn as Uncle Petey. Steve Buscemi is wonderful as Pete, a broken man trying to just stay a step ahead of his bipolarity. Steven Wright, quipping in from his barstool is a real treat and it took me to the credits to realize Marcia was being portrayed by the inimitable Jessica Lange. Edie Falco’s Sheila is abrasive and angry and a perfect foil to the misongynist Uncle Petey. Lots of other interesting characters float in and out of this rundown Brooklyn dive. I highly recommend pulling up a stool and binging back some Horace and Pete as soon as you have a free 10 hours.

More than a little behind the 8 ball, I’ve finally got around to watching The Sopranos.

Lately I only have time for GOT. Or barely, I leave the recorder on and watch when I have time. I got my Supernatural season 11 weekly from, ahem, alternative sources… watched the season’s cliffhanger just a few hours behind the US broadcast. Hence, this summer I have nothing to do but rewatch. Ah, the sort of freedom from schedules…

Haven’t finished this mini-series yet but it deserves a recommendation just based on the first 3 episodes.

GOT Season Finale!!!

:discodance:

Wahoo! everything we could have looked for and more ! No spoliers here, but some of what we needed with a sweet-ass appetizr!

[quote=“UncleJamie”]GOT Season Finale!!!
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Not really, we still have to wait for episode10 !

[quote=“Ibis2k12”][quote=“UncleJamie”]GOT Season Finale!!!
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Not really, we still have to wait for episode10 ![/quote]

Despite how the plot has moved forward in GoT episode 9, you have to say that the second half of the episode itself was amazingly shot.

[quote=“ranlee”][quote=“Ibis2k12”][quote=“UncleJamie”]GOT Season Finale!!!
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Not really, we still have to wait for episode10 ![/quote]

Despite how the plot has moved forward in GoT episode 9, you have to say that the second half of the episode itself was amazingly shot.[/quote]

Episodes 9 and 10 were both incredible from a cinematic point of view. They were directed from Miguel Sapochnik, who was also behind Hardhome last season. He’s miles ahead of all the other GoT directors so far, I hope he’ll have more space in the last 2 seasons of the show. I was shocked by his Imdb page, he hasn’t really directed anything major so far, but Hardhome, Battle of Bastards and Winds of Winter are so much better than most of the movies I’ve seen in the last few years.
The soundtrack of this last episode was amazing as well.

And now our watch begins (for another 42 weeks, more or less…damn).